Reagan's Darker Side:
Reagan's Mob Connections Hid

A long time friend of Reagan, the powerful and connected Lew Wasserman — Chairman and CEO of MCA (Music Corporation of America), the parent of Universal Studios, until 1990 when it was sold to Matsushita for $6.6 billion — protected Reagan from any taint of ''dirty'' money. Wasserman was "connected," but that it was not known precisely how and few wanted to know. Julius Stein and Wasserman had had little choice — in order to succeed in show business in their day, they had to deal with the Mob — especially Stein, who started out in Al Capone's Chicago, and formed a liaison with James Petrillo, the head of the American Federation of Musicians local in Chicago and, eventually, its national president. They did what they had to do — in the world of the ''Great Depression''. When MCA bought Universal Studios, federal regulators forced Wasserman to dissolve MCA's agency wing because MCA was representing performers as their agent while its production company was hiring them; as this violated anti-trust laws in 1962. Wasserman made an estimated $350 million from the sale, and was retained as a manager. When Seagram bought MCA in 1995, he retired from management, but remained on the board of directors until 1998. Paradoxically, he was a committed Democratic and one of Bill Clinton's earliest backers.



I'd Trust Him Over Reagan Any Day!

In an recent article John Waters reminds all that Connie Bruck stated in her book on Lew Wasserman When Hollywood Had a King: The Reign of Lew Wasserman, Who Leveraged Talent into Power and Influence, that Reagan used to go out whoring with the Hollywood mob fixer and lawyer Sidney Korshak. He was a confidant of several studio heads and negotiated corporate mergers, political deals and labor settlements behind the scenes. He became almost as renowned for his penchant for anonymity as his backroom dominance. Part of his cache was the ability to serve as a liaison between corporate titans and underworld chieftains.


The "Doonesbury" strip from July 11th, 1979

Sidenote: Connie Bruck's book is more epic, covering as it does the business careers of Jules Stein and Lew Wassermann from the 1920s into the 21st Century in addition to telling the history of their company MCA and the industry they "ruled". There is not much surprising celebrity scandal that unfolds, except some strong hints that Ronald Reagan was a charming empty suit who received many sweetheart deals from the industry and he gave back in return. In some ways the Wasserman life story told here is one of the rise and fall, the young mans glory being used by younger students against him. And even though MCA associated with the mob and the mob with them Wasserman gave heavily to his industry and charity. Bruck makes such correlations with consummate precision while preserving, throughout her examination of Wasserman ("a shark you almost had to admire as he circled you") the nuances of his multi-dimensional humanity. Wasserman's fondness came from Reagan being the star that earned him his first million dollar contract.

Also Iran-contra, Nikki Finke reports: Henry Denker, a well-known theater, TV and radio writer penned a thinly disguised ''roman à clef'' about the “TCA” talent agency, its ties with the mob and a has-been actor turned Western state governor. The Kingmaker disappeared soon after publication, reportedly because Wasserman had it deep-sixed. It remains one of the hardest books about Hollywood to find. More easier to find is mystery and screenplay author Roger L. Simon's 2nd ''Moses Wine'' novel ''Wild Turkey'' which features mobster ''Meyer Greenglass'' who is clearly based on Sidney Korshak and deals with a mystery that focuses on that era in Hollywood.


Crusading muckraker Dan E. Moldea shows the three were connected as the rise of MCA and its move to Hollywood paralleled the rise of the Chicago Mafia and its infiltration of the motion picture industry. While MCA was representing some of the top motion picture stars, Chicago mobsters took control of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), the major Hollywood labor union — through Willie Bioff, a small-time hood, who was supervised by Chicago mob lieutenant Johnny Roselli. Though soon Hollywood was told Sidney Korshak was their representative.




No One Asks Why The Media Gave
Reagan A ''Pass'' On A Charge of Rape
But Everyone is Ready To Give Kitty Kelly
A Kick To Her Crotch

On what was called “The Battle of the Couch” by Kitty Kelley, she describe a date rape-like situation involving then 19 year old Selene Walters and Reagan. Further, in the April 29, 1991, issue of People Magazine, Selene Walters said that 42 year old Ronald Reagan raped her in 1952 confirming the basic version of the episode in Kelly's unauthorized biography of Nancy Reagan:

“ … Kelley's account of his late-night visit is essentially accurate,
although he never forced his way into her apartment. I opened
the door. Then it was the battle of the couch. I was fighting him.
I didn't want him to make love to me. He's a very big man, and
he just had his way. Date rape? No, God, no, that's Kelley's phrase.
I didn't have a chance to have a date with him. … ”

In their editor at large Jack Shafer's March 5, 1999 Slate article, Gipper the Ripper: - “… Ronald Reagan successfully stonewalled the Walters' story when the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times picked it up briefly in April 1991. And remember, this was three and a half years before his Alzheimer's disease diagnosis. The weekend the book was released, a reporter asked Reagan for a comment about it as he entered church.

"... I don't think a church would be the proper place to use the word I
would have to use in discussing that," he said.

Not exactly a denial.”


Losing Wyman Drove Ronnie Into The Arms of Hookers

Kelley other insight into Reagan's character comes off even worse: After the breakup of his marriage to Wyman and before he met Nancy, Reagan had an affair with starlet Jacqueline Park, later the mistress of Warner Bros. studio boss Jack Warner. Park told Kelley that when the two began dating, Reagan couldn't perform sexually. I think he was still suffering withdrawal pains from Jane Wyman. Throughout their liaison, Park said, "He never took me out in public, never gave me a present and never ever paid for a cab for me." According to Park, when she became pregnant; Reagan denied that the child was his and ended the affair. When questioned later Jacqueline Park admitted Kelley quoted her fairly accurately: “ … When I told him I was pregnant, he said he didn't want to have anything to do with me anymore. He just ran out on me. …”

Assorted Miscellaneous Information
You Can Use To Stymie Reagan Youth

From Kevin Jeys article October 29, 1998 Elective Affinities, Part II:

“… The sexual shenanigans of Ronald and Nancy Reagan were never a secret. Both were most relentlessly promiscuous while in Hollywood, locus of the nation’s largest, longest, strongest and most obsessively tended gossip grapevine. Many a starlet seeking studio entree via the well-traveled smile-and-spread circuit hopefully ungirdled her loins and passed under Reagan, while Nancy’s name was routinely circulated among executives in search of a fast and practiced backseat blowjob. … Though until Kitty Kelley I’d never heard the tale of how Reagan blithely bounced the bedsprings with lover Christine Larson while wife Nancy struggled to give birth to daughter Patti, I was one of probably millions of Americans cognizant of the open joke of Nancy’s cuckolding of Ronnie with longtime lover Frank Sinatra in the residence quarters of the White House, and anyone in the nation who paid attention to the numbers—and could count even to nine — realized Nancy was four months pregnant when she pledged to Ron "I do." …”

The above referenced in Jackson Thoreau's article“ Republicans Involved in Sex Scandals as Much as Democrats in the section — The affairs of Reagan and the conservatives who went after Clinton — “ … Ronald Reagan was revered by conservatives … But how many know about Reagan’s extramarital affairs, including how he reportedly had sex with mistress Christine Larson as Nancy Reagan gave birth to daughter Patti? Or that he was regularly known to engage in extramarital sex with various Hollywood wannabe actresses?”

Nancy's Revenge
We should also mention that Nancy was among the many Hollywood housewives who revenge themselves on philandering husbands by a visit to Uncle Miltie:

You know the old story about Milton and Forrest Tucker having big _______, right? I guess Berle and Tuck both had ones in the 12" to 16" neighborhood. The show biz guys all had a steam room they went to in New York. Jackie Gleason was horsing around one afternoon, and decided he wanted to measure them to see who’s was bigger. Berle allegedly had the advantage by about 2 inches. Gleason said, "Come on Milt, just take enough out to win the bet for me."

Dick Shawn described being in the steam room with Berle this way, "I didn’t have my glasses on. I thought he had a small child standing next to him… until I realized it was his ______." But the quote seems more akin to Buddy Hackett.

The Hollywood A-List has this to say about Nancy in a nastier manner: ''“The eminence grise(ly) in the Reagan White House. Used astrology to determine policy decisions. Slept with Frank Sinatra in the White House itself. Personally pro-choice but kept quiet and supported anti-choice actions for her husband's career. Former "Hostess Girl Escort'' for the studios when they needed to recruit investors or starpower; Famous for giving the best head in Hollywood in her day according to Peter Lawford. Was three months pregnant when she married Ronnie. Failed to say ''no'' to pot at least once. Supposedly verbally abused her children. Went to orgies with Alfred and Betsy Bloomingdale with Ronnie.
Sexually linked with:

• Milton Berle,
• Yul Brynner,
• Clark Gable,
• Peter Lawford,
• Frank Sinatra,
• Spencer Tracy,
• Vicki Morgan, and
• Mike Wallace.

The most evil thing Reagan did was to pave the way for the first Bush Junta White House; Most appropriate trivia information is the street number of the Reagan home in Bel Air was 666.

YMMV - Sparky